Agricultural round balers collect and process cut crop material into to tightly wound cylindrical bales. The spiral wound cylindrical bales are typically tightly wrapped with a twine, netting or other wrap material to maintain their cylindrical shape after being discharged from the baler. For various reasons, it may be beneficial to discharge the bales in a particular orientation. For example, orienting the bales in a particular manner may assist in retaining the wrap material on the bales, or may allow for a certain side of the bale to be in either a ground-contacting or sun-exposed position.
One known problem with round bales is that when the bales are not oriented properly the wrap material (e.g., net or twine) may hang down from the bales, and may get caught in the tires of the tractor when they are transported. When looking at the bale end face with the wrap wrapped around the bale in a clockwise fashion, for example, it will be seen that if the end of the wrap is located between about the 7:00 and 11:00 o'clock positions, it is possible for the end of the wrap to become loose from the bale and fall down toward the ground. If, however, the end of the wrap is located, for example, between about the 1:00-5:00 o'clock positions it is very unlikely that if the end became loose, gravity would tend to pull the wrap downward keeping it in contact with the bale.
One known system has been developed to orient the bales within the baler, which senses when the actuator that is used to cut the wrap has completed the cutting process, then it measures the number of rotations of the bale inside the bale forming chamber and, when the end of the wrap is in the desired location inside the bale forming chamber, the system disengages a clutch in the main driveline to stop the rotation of the bale. After the clutch has been disengaged, the gate is opened by the operator to discharge the bale. However, such a system, particularly including a clutch arrangement, significantly adds to the complexity and cost of the machine.